The Chromecast is a nice and easy way to send videos to a local TV, and you can't argue with the price. But right now it's limited to just a few apps streaming directly from existing video and music services. Bubblesoft, makers of the BubbleUPnP media server, are showing off features of an upcoming version that would make Chromecast a lot more useful: streaming nearly any file on your smartphone or cloud drive.

The development build of the BubbleUPnP local streaming app becomes a media source for the Chromecast, allowing it to connect to the phone (via a local WiFi network) instead of a web-hosted service like Netflix. The app can then serve up local media files in a variety of formats, or connect the Chromecast directly to a cloud storage service like Google Drive. This sort of functionality could expand the utility of the Chromecast by an appreciable margin.

Bubblesoft isn't the only developer testing out this sort of app. ClockworkMod developer Koushik "Koush" Dutta is already showing off concept apps for streaming from local files, Dropbox, and RSS feeds.

Unfortunately we're quite a way from seeing this kind of functionality come to BubbleUPnP or similar apps. At the moment Google isn't allowing distribution - the video demonstrations are using a preview API and whitelisted Chromecasts on a developer build. Google is waiting for a stabilized API before it allows devs to publish or update apps. But the SDK is already in the hands of app developers, so it's only a matter of time before we'll see this kind of expanded streaming hit the Chromecast. Nice going, guys.

Comments

I was referring to the typo in the title earlier. Look at the URL closely and you'll see what I mean.

Jonathan Véricain

This Key is magical !!

samizad

Sweet. I will be following both Koush's method of streaming personal video from Dropbox/Google Drive and also the BubbleUPnP app for beaming local video.

Simon Belmont

This looks really cool. Hopefully Google builds this functionality in at some point, but you have got to hand it to the third-party developers on getting this working so fast.

By the way the title of this article reads "ClowckworkMod" above. I think you meant ClockworkMod.

skitchbeatz

I think it's actually spelled clowckwkwckworkmod

Simon Belmont

Oh. I always thought that was the sound that Apple folks made when they realized that Chromecast was a lot cooler than Apple TV.

Carry on, then. Cheers.

GlennStile

I bought BubbleUPnP about a year ago, its one of the best apps I have purchased, not only because of its great functionality, range of supported devices and services but also due to the speed of the developers. I'm not surprised to see them with working chromecast support this soon.

Ok Google, get the worldwide shipping going NOW!

alvester

Yes! The sooner the better! If BubbleUPnP allows streaming of lossless audio from within my home network to the Chromecast this will be exactly what I need. The mp3s from Google Play Music sound merely decent but they don't sound nearly as good as the lossless stuff already ripped on our home server. If this works out then I'll have no need for a $300+ Squeezebox or other streamer in my home theater setup. (the built-in one in my receiver is pitifully undependable) This little Chromecast device with the right app could finally make HDMI extremely useful in an audiophile setup.